Search For Beauty A Fairy Tale
by Cecily Wunge
Summary: A short fic about Joey, Mai, Seto Mokuba in fairy tale style. I can't tell you too much, 'cos it'll give it all away! BTW, I'm uploading this from a friends 'puter, 'cos mine's busted, but pleez r&r!


**Fairy Tale**

# CW: This is just a short fic I wrote on impulse. Enjoy! #

Once upon a time, in the land of green meadows, dark pine forests and rivers of crystal, there lived a handsome prince named Seto. In his youth, the prince had been a kind hearted, giving person, taking long walks in the woods to talk to his animal friends or riding down to the village on his mighty white steed, Blue-Eyes, to visit the poor and needy.

But as the prince grew older, his courtiers and friends began to notice a change in him. His younger brother Mokuba, the captain of the guards, was allowed to accompany him to the forest or the town less and less, and soon the prince's outings ceased altogether.

He left the main chambers of his great castle in the mountains and kept to the west tower, poring over manuscripts and legal papers all day long. He became obsessed with the riches of the country, constantly trying to find ways to bring his kingdom more wealth. He even married his brother off to a young princess from a rich country.

And so it was that the newly wed prince Mokuba made it his business to cheer his brother up. On the morning of Seto's eighteenth birthday, the little captain of the guards called the courtiers and his men together in the great hall and told them his plan.

'My friends and countrymen,' he began, pacing the raised platform on which he stood, 'I have a notion as to what ails my brother. He hides away in his tower with his numbers and his lists, and his heart grows lonely. I propose that we travel far and wide, to the four corners of the earth and across the seven seas to find the most beautiful woman in the world to be his bride. This will undoubtedly make the prince happy.'

The courtiers and knights thought that this was an excellent idea, and left in the highest of spirits, as did little prince Mokuba.

But his mood swiftly changed as the weeks turned to months and there was no sign of this beautiful woman.

The courtiers brought their daughters, nieces, younger sisters and cousins, and prince Mokuba stood before each and claimed that all were beautiful enough for his brother. But, he explained, true beauty comes from within. So he asked each maiden to tell him where his brother's beauty lay. Some could not answer, and he dismissed them. Others claimed it lay in his face, or his mind, or his heart, but these answers were rehearsed and unfeeling. So prince Mokuba sent them away as well.

And so it went on. Winter turned to spring, and spring into summer. When the leaves began to curl, prince Mokuba despaired. He took Blue-Eyes from the stables and galloped down to the village as his brother used to do.

Once there, the young prince called a gathering at the town hall.

When the crowd had arrived, Mokuba spoke.

'Good people of this town, your prince needs to wed. For many months we have searched, and no one has been found. I ask you all, do you know what makes a person beautiful?'

The townspeople looked at each other. They spoke amongst each other, shaking heads and shrugging shoulders. Then a man stood forward.

'There is only one answer.' He said. 'There is no such thing as beauty.'

'How so?' asked Mokuba, looking at the stranger.

'There is no way to define beauty.' Replied the stranger. 'In fact, there is truly no such thing as beauty. Beauty, as we well know, is hardly a flawed thing, but if beauty were defined as perfection, then no one in the world would be beautiful, for no one is perfect. So beauty is a thing that is neither imperfect, nor perfect. Something of which there is no such thing.'

'Tell me, boy,' began prince Mokuba, for the speaker was no man. Truly he was between the ages, not yet fully fledged, but out of his childhood by a way. 'What is your name?'

'Your majesty, my name is Joseph.' Replied the young man. 'I am the son of a carpenter, but my family has long since passed away. I am the only one now.'

'You are a man of wisdom?' the young prince looked at him closely. His clothes were torn and his face was dirty from the gutter. His hair was like a haystack, yellow, indeed, as hay. But his dark eyes had a power in them.

'Truly, your majesty, I am not.' Replied the boy. 'I can neither read nor write, and my reputation in the village is to be idle and dull.'

There was a murmur of agreement and a few of the townspeople began to laugh at Joseph.

'Let the man speak, and do not mock him!' ordered the prince. 'Joseph, you may not be a man of knowledge, but that was not my question. Truly, on matters of the heart, you are wiser than I, and indeed my brother. So I ask you, take my brother's steed, Blue-Eyes, and take our search deep into the far reaches of the world. I am sure in my heart that you will succeed.'

And so it was that Joseph, the son of a carpenter, set off on the back of Blue-Eyes as far as the sea. When the stallion's hooves sunk into sand, the young man bade him fondly farewell, and sent the mighty horse on his faithful way back to his master, prince Seto.

Joseph paid a ferryman to take him across the sea, and when he reached the shore he travelled for a thousand days and nights to a land beyond the eye of his own.

When he finally reached the first village of this kingdom he was fatigued, and his boots were worn through, but still he determined to find a bride for prince Seto.

Looking to the west, he saw a great castle on a hill, surrounded by a deep moat. The sun shone amber on its walls, and Joseph knew in his heart that this was where fate had led him.

Joseph climbed the hill and called across the moat.

There was no answer from the battlements, and the windows of the towers remained dark.

Joseph despaired and turned to head back to the village, when an answering shout echoed from a high window in the tallest tower.

Joseph looked up, and the first thing he saw was a glint of gold. Looking closer, he saw that the bright shimmer was the hair of a maiden who gazed out of the tower, down to where he stood.

Her hair was as the sunshine at dawn, and her eyes like two sparkling amethysts. She wore a robe of deepest indigo and a jewel glimmered from a band about her throat.

'Who calls to my tower?' she cried.

'My name is Joseph.' Replied the young man. 'I have searched across many thousands of leagues for the most beautiful woman in the world. May I enter?'

'There is no life in this castle.' Came the reply. 'The drawbridge is firm where it rests and no man has yet passed the portcullis.'

'But surely the princes of a thousand kingdoms would charge this castle to the ground for the sight of your beautiful face.' Replied Joseph.

'Many have tried.' Replied the maiden. 'But none may cross into this place, and I may not leave it. I have been cursed.'

'How so?' asked Joseph.

'A sorceress once dwelt in the deep woods beyond this castle.' Said the maiden. 'She heard I was beautiful, and so used her magic to make herself more so. But purest nature did what her dark magic could not, and my beauty flowered and surpassed hers every time. In rage, she cursed this place to keep me forever, and that I would wait in my tower so the world would never see my face, and no man could force past the gates of the castle. It has been this way for a hundred years.'

'My beauty, this cannot be what befalls you.' Said Joseph. 'You must tell me two things. First your name.'

'I am called Mai, princess of this land.' Replied the maiden. 'What do you wish next?'

'I must ask you, princess, where lies prince Seto's beauty?' asked Joseph.

'Why,' replied the princess, 'I have not met the prince, and so could not say that he has beauty, let alone where it lies. If he is as man as you are, his beauty may be to one what is foul to another, for none can truly say where beauty lies. One could guess it to be in the face, the mind or the heart, but to me, there is no such thing as beauty.'

And Joseph then knew that his search was over, and that prince Seto must wed this cursed maid. But the thought made Joseph weep, for he had fallen for the princess.

'You say that no man may force past your gates, princess?' he called up to the tower.

'Yes, as you know.' She replied.

'But can a man scale your walls?' asked Joseph.

'That I could not say.' Replied princess Mai.

Joseph swam the moat and stood at the foot of the mighty wall.

The answer for him was nay, for the walls were smooth as beeswax.

'My princess, I must rest.' He called up. 'I see no way tonight, but here will I sleep and tomorrow I will be here for your rescue.'

So Joseph laid down his pack and slept at the foot of the great wall.

Joseph awoke to hear the princess calling to him. The morning light was fresh and sparkled on the thing she held out of the window above him.

'What have you there, fair beauty?' he asked her.

'A rope.' She replied, 'Woven from a hundred years of cobwebs. The notion came to me as you slept, and I worked until dawn to finish it.'

'Princess, you have twice and again the cleverness of any on this earth.' Laughed Joseph.

And so princess Mai let down the spider silk rope, and Joseph climbed the great wall.

He passed through her window into her chamber, and tried to take the princess with him back down to the ground below, but she could not go.

'The curse is still upon me.' She wept. 'The spell may only be broken by true love's first kiss.'

'But prince Seto must be your love.' Said Joseph sadly. 'And so you must remain here until I return to his kingdom and tell him the tidings. He will return for you.'

'Stay, Joseph.' Said princess Mai. 'You asked me of beauty. To me, prince Seto has no beauty. He was not the one who travelled this distance, who scaled the walls supported by his trust in me. Prince Seto does not know I exist. Prince Seto's beauty does not lie in him, for, as I say, he has none. Your beauty, Joseph, lies in all that you do. I would make you king of this land.'

And Joseph kissed her, and the curse was broken. For prince Seto was not princess Mai's true love.

And that was when Joseph learned the truth. You cannot ask for love or for beauty – something that prince Seto and prince Mokuba did not know.

Something that Joseph did not know was that shortly after he left, prince Seto had met a princess from the next kingdom, and she was beautiful of heart, if not of face. They had married, and prince Seto had become happy once more, and all the kingdom with him.

When word was received in princess Mai's kingdom of the marriage, Joseph rejoiced, for now his task was over.

Joseph and princess Mai were married, and Joseph was made king of the land, which prospered and became green now that it was rid of the curse.

And all in both kingdoms lived happily ever after.

# CW: Wow! It may have sounded a bit weird to you, but to me it sounded almost like a real fairy tale. If you hated it, never mind, it's not really my sort of thing either. See ya! #


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